what counts as experience in specialty areas?

[jdhoward407]

I have been working in the O.R. for 27 years as a CST working at various hospitals in various acute settings from a level 1 trauma center to a 4 room community hospital. I have worked in CV O.R., Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, general and GYN. I have worked side by side with many RNs and assisted them in care of the patient intraoperatively. I am currently in my final semester of nursing school. I am leaning heavy toward staying in the O.R. as a RN and want to know others feedback on should my 27 years of experience count toward some experience in the O.R.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Yes, your experience as a CST will make you a more attractive candidate than someone with no OR experience. It may or may not make you more competitive than an applicant who has worked as an RN in the OR or another area. It's really in the eyes on those reviewing your application. It is not considered RN experience, and you can't state on an application that you have X years of experience in the OR if the question is asking about previous work as an RN. In terms of salary, don't expect your CST work to count as experience when factoring where you fall on the RN pay scale.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

My organization 'counts' CST experience at 50% for new grad RN hires into OR... So, 4 yrs CST = 2 yrs RN. This is a special deal that is just in the OR - otherwise, the only non-nursing job that is factored in the same way is LVN & only if the newly licensed RN will be working in a similar clinical area. Hope that makes sense.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Does it count when determining who to hire? Yes. Does it count on number of years for starting salary? Probably not.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

CST and RN are two different roles- and scopes of practice. Will your CST experience influence your attractiveness as a candidate? Probably. Will it mean you'll start at a higher salary? Depends on the facility. Mine offers a slightly higher than base new grad RN pay to OR nurses who were previously CSTs. Others don't. Should you have that experience on your resume? Yes, but it needs to be very clear that it was as a CST. Will it help you against a candidate with OR RN experience? Possibly not. Even with CSTs who became RNs and stayed in our OR had to go through the same periop orientation as those nurses who had never set foot in an OR beyond an observation day. It was still 6-9 months until they were able to be circulating rooms by themselves- partly due to policy, partly due to the fact that those CSTs didn't know what all the circulator role involved until they filled it. So, if there's an experienced OR RN who's going to be able to be running solo within 6 weeks, hiring the RN with experience may make more sense based on the need of the facility.